1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a cleaning unit, a process cartridge incorporating the cleaning unit, and an image forming apparatus incorporating the cleaning unit or the process cartridge.
2. Related Art
Electrophotographic image forming apparatuses include a cleaning mechanism in which residual toner on a photoconductor is cleaned and collected. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2007-133034-A discloses a technique in which a cleaner includes a cleaning brush that is charged and disposed at an upstream side of a photoconductor in a rotation direction thereof and a cleaning blade is disposed downstream from the cleaning brush in the rotation direction. The cleaning brush and the cleaning blade remove residual toner remaining on the photoconductor together. Thereafter, a collection roller that is charged and contacted with the cleaning brush collects toner that is collected and held on the cleaning brush.
However, in the technique disclosed in JP 2007-133034-A, the cleaning brush and the collection roller rotate in the same direction, and therefore the cleaning brush contacting the collection roller flicks off the toner that cannot be collected by the collection roller, which causes the toner to be attached to the photoconductor again.